Rivers United Football Club is a Nigerian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

, that participates in the

Nigerian Professional Football League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financ ...

, the highest level of domestic Nigerian football. The club was formed by the merger of

Sharks F.C. Sharks Football Club was a Nigerian football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They played in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigerian Premier League. Their home stadium was Sharks Stadium although they played some of their ...

and Dolphins F.C. in 2016. Their home stadium was the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, formerly Liberation Stadium, in Elekahia that has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 30,000. They moved to the

Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on the north end of the city in the Omagwa neighbourhood. The stadium is named after Adokiye Amiesimaka, a former player with Nigeria's national football team who was am ...

in 2020. The stadium, renovated in 2020, has a capacity of 40,000. There is also a female team,

Rivers Angels F.C. Rivers Angels F.C. (formerly Larry Angels F.C.) is a Nigerian professional football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in Nigeria. They play in the Nigeria Women Premier League, the top flight in the national female soccer league pyramid ...

, which is one of the best in Nigeria and Africa. Rivers United FC has remained in the top flight since its first season. In the 2020-2021

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

season, Rivers defeated South African opponent Bloemfontein Celtic home and away to set up a highly anticipated matchup against neighbors

Enyimba Aba is a city in southeastern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River and is at the intersection of roads leading to settlements such as Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot-Abasi. Aba was established by t ...

in the final qualifying round for a spot in the group stage. They lost the tie on penalties after a 1–1 aggregate scoreline

History

Rivers United was founded in 2016 after the Rivers state government got permission to merge Dolphins FC and Sharks FC. Both clubs were run by the state government and were experiencing financial difficulty. Sharks were relegated to the First Division in 2015 while Dolphins had barely escaped relegation after drawing their final match. Rivers United's crest contains both a shark and a dolphin as a result of the merge. Stanley Eguma was appointed coach and led them to a win in their first league match, 1–0 over

. The club finished second in the 2016 Nigerian Premier League which qualified them for the

2017 CAF Champions League The 2017 CAF Champions League (officially the 2017 Total CAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 53rd edition of Africa's premier club association football, football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF ...

for the first time. A four-goal second-leg win over Mali's

AS Bamako AS Bamako is a Malian football club based in Bamako. They play in the top division in Malian football. Their home stadium is Stade Municipal de Bamako. Achievements * Malien Cup: 1 :: 2005 Performance in CAF competitions *CAF Confederation Cup ...

with Esosa Igbinoba and Bernard Ovoke each scoring a brace put Rivers past the preliminary round. However, they were eliminated by Sudan's

Al-Merrikh Al-Merrikh Sporting Club () is a Sudanese professional football club based in the city of Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the oldest football cl ...

4–3 on aggregate in the first round after losing a 3–0 first round lead.

2021–22: Nigerian Professional League Champions

On 25 June 2022, Rivers United won their first

Nigeria Professional Football League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financi ...

title with four games to spare after

Akwa United Akwa United Football Club is a Nigerian football (soccer), football club based in Uyo, in Akwa Ibom State. They play in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the first division of Nigerian football. The Godswill Akpabio International Stadium i ...

beat their nearest challengers, Plateau United 2–1 in Uyo. Rivers United ended the season with 77 points, breaking the league record of 73 points in a season. The 2021–22 Nigeria Professional Football League title is their first league title since the merger between

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

and Sharks FC of Port Harcourt in 2016. It is also the first NPFL title by a

Rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

-based side since the Dolphins won in 2011. Rivers United won 23 games, drew 8, and lost 7 of their 38 league games as they claimed the 2021-22 league title with 10 points ahead of their closest rivals, Plateau United. Rivers united players and officials were awarded $20,000 each by the Rivers state government for their league triumph in 2022 and were promised another US$40,000 if they qualify for the 2022-2023 Caf champions league group stage.

Honours

Domestic

** Champions (1): 2021–22 ** Third Place:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Performance in CAF competitions

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

: 3 appearances ::

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

– First Round ::

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

– second Round :: 2022–23 – Second Round *

: 4 appearances ::

– Group stage ::

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

– Play-off round :: 2021–22 – Play-off round ::

– Quarter Finals

Staff

Head coach * Finidi George Assistant coach * Fatai Osho Acting General Manager * Okey Kpalukwu Welfare Secretary * Albert Chinwo Media officer * Mayuku Charles

Current squad

''Updated 8 February 2024'' (

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

)

Rivers Angels

Further information:

Rivers Angels F.C. (formerly Larry Angels F.C.) is a Nigerian professional football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They play in the

Nigeria Women Premier League The NWFL Premiership (formerly Nigeria Women Premier League) is the top-level league for women's association football in Nigeria. It is the women's equivalent of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for male players. The Nigeria Wome ...

, the top flight division in the female soccer league system in Nigeria.

Notes

External links

Rivers United FC Results
– current results of Rivers United FC matches {{Nigerian Premier League Association football clubs established in 2016 Football clubs in Port Harcourt 2016 establishments in Nigeria 2010s establishments in Rivers State Sports clubs and teams in Nigeria